Alburgued

I stayed tonight in a self-service alburgue which is based solely on an honor system. There is no hospilaro (manager) present, you pay a donation of what you want, you clean up after yourself etc. the village has a population of 200 so everyone knows you are there. The grocery is run by a man who has all the groceries behind the counter. With me knowing so little Spanish I point and smile to indicate what I want. The village name is Calzadilla de Los Hermanillos. The next village where I will stay is over15 miles away on the same old roman road called Mansilla de las Mulas --the side bag of a mule--indicating what was really important when the Romans occupied Spain.

More than half way

Well since Oct 9 I have walked 267 miles and so I am more than halfway. I walked an old Roman supply road today. They supplied the legion in Leon from Bordeaux France. Evidently it is not a popular route as for many hours I walked alone. There is another route that parallels this one but it follows a modern highway--my walk was more quieter--though some strange bird was not happy with my presence and scolded me--I am not certain if birds speak Spanish but I did not recognize its speech. It is the end of the pilgrim season there are only 3 of us in the alburgue tonight. One person is a young man who left home in August which is in Switzerland. I have met so many people from so many places. They seem surprised when I say this is my first time in Europe. A week from now I will be in the mountains again and at a place called Cruz de Ferro or Iron Cross. I will post more about it when I get there but in the meantime you can Google it and get information in advance. No new injuries mostly I am tired. Have another 17 mile walk tomorrow with a shorter walk to Leon on Tuesday of about 11 miles. It is a large city so I may take a day off there on Wenesday to resupply with provisions for the rest of my trip. The shops are very specialized in Spain so I don't know where to go to buy certain things. The shops tend to be in the medieval center of the town-- it has the effect of one enormous shopping mall without the mall with the food court spread out into a plaza area where people come to eat and socialize. It is an incredible experience to see people eating and shopping in the late evening in a town center.

This is the view outside my window

A new day in Spain

I have walked a little over 200 miles in 15 days. I feel quite tired. I am surprised that  I am able to get up the next day and keep moving. I am mostly stiff (expected) but  having se back pain. I try not to think  about how far I have yet to go but enjoy each day as it is. The Spanish people are friendly and patient since I can't speak their language very well--I wish I knew more. I am on the Meseta now a high plateau much like the Great Plains in the USA. 

Hello all. I am using a coin operated computer and a Spainish keyboard at the moment having difficulty figuring how to use it.I have heard thet there has been a request for pictures, so I will try to upload some. After a difficult climb over the Pyrenees I had a difficult time going down. I missed a trail and went down a trail that was not recommended because of its steepness, and so my right knee has been hurting for some days now. Spain is a beautiful country and the people are very friendly. I am hoping to make it to Estella today but with my right knee acting up that may be difficult. As I was walking out of Pamplona yesterday and elderly gentleman stopped , started speaking to me and of course I could not understand him. I replyed with one of the three Spanish sentences I know ¨I do not speak Spanish¨He replied in Spainsh--yes you do a little--we both laughed. He was trying to tell me something about the Camino and Santiago--perhaps he walked it at one time. On top of Alto Perdon an elderly French woman arrived riding her bicycle--I was sitting down and she came to sit with me. She started talking to me in French and I replied in French that I knew a litte French. And then we had a conversation of broken French and broken English--she is riding to Santiago on her bike. People seem to appreciate an effort to speak to them in their own language--perhaps it shows you respect them. I seem to suffering still from jet lag as I wake up in the middle of the night and cannot get back to sleep. Unfortunately I cannot upload pictures right now because the computer cannot recognize my camera. I will try again later.

after a rough crossing of the Pyrenees I am beginning my third day I have walked around 30 miles. I am tired and sore. I noticed that there were vulture like birds flying over all the high mountain passes--they were quite ready to do they job should I not make--but alas I did and they went hungry. And so they issued their meal. I
Am off to Pamplona today on 12 miles.

Well it is Sunday night of Oct 6 about 11:45 PM and my stuff is still out of the backpack and needs to be put inside of the pack and I still need to eliminate taking some things--it is hard to decide on what I really need and what I really might need and so you see my dilemma. It doesn't look like I will be needing any of my warmer clothing except mornings--the weather there in Spain is pretty much what one might expect in southeastern Ohio for this time of year. I need to go to sleep--hopefully I will be able to continue post via using my IPhone.

What you are seeing here is all the stuff I am taking with me on the Camino--it is supposed to fit in or on the backpack you see in the picture.

It is coming down to the wire--10 days before I leave. I keep packing and unpacking my backpack trying to figure out what I really need to take with me (considering what I will need as the season changes and the travel though mountainous regions). 

People on the Camino forum say that if you need something you can easily buy what you need--but being on a very limited budget, I can only buy something if it is an emergency and so--I need to carry everything with me.

The other day I tried to simulate what it would be like to wash my laundry in a sink and dry it inside without the use of the dryer--I washed my clothing late afternoon and come morning it was still damp--which is not good--and so I will need to find alburgues (i.e. hostel type sleeping place) that have driers.

For some reason I am having more anxiety about this trip than any other I have gone on--I have thought about why and I think it is due to the idea that I will be dependent on my feet to carry me 500 miles within a 6 week period. I have realized that I cannot think about it this way--and just break it down to one day at a time and getting through that day and then--God willing--the next one and the one after that.

The following are a couple of videos about the Camino where I will be walking--hopefully I will be taking my own pictures to post

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfRu7R0COMU&feature=player_detailpage

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dqOI87nSU0&feature=player_detailpage

The Road Goes Ever On by Bilbo Baggins

The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say

As I have read JRR Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings I have often though of the above verses--a song attributed to Bilbo as he began his greatest adventure. I have often wanted to follow after him--realizing I cannot because after all he is a product of fiction. None the less, I still would like to follow--and I have wondered why?

It seems that the desire for exploration and adventure has always tugged at me--it would have been better if I had lived around 250 years ago when the wilderness of America remained mostly  unexplored and unknown--alas now every seems to be found and charted. If we were further along with our technology and in space (and I was a much younger man) I would perhaps be the first chaplain in outer space (I of course would be going to Star Fleet academy).

No doubt this need I have for exploration and adventure is part of the drive for my desire to go on pilgrimage--though not all. There is also a deeper need to find time to reconnect with God and explore the spiritual unknown. This in some ways does not appear to make much sense, as I have been a Christian for over 40 years and a pastor for over 20--so you would think that this would not be needed.

However, perhaps it is due to my age, the current condition of the Presbyterian Church or both, that I have a longing desire to reconnect with God, my spiritual roots, considering the fact that now (since my dad's death a year ago) am now the oldest Story of the family (my grandson Gabriel reminded me of this fact).

Not only am I an explorer/adventurer at heart, the other part of me is a tendency to be a bit of a mystic/philosopher/theologian--thus my desire to reconnect with God, my spirituality and reason it all out according to theological and philosophical debate (which may in fact is an impossibility, because people have been trying to do this for thousands of years).

There is also my need to reconnect with humanity. As of this date the only people I have ever met from the "Old World"  has been on my home turf--here in the U.S.A. where I have had the advantage. For the first time on my life I will be confronted with how they view life--experiencing life on their terms. And since I speak only a few sentences of French, fewer of Spanish, and a couple words of German, I will definitely learn what it is like to be in a foreign country not knowing the lingo.

Being an introvert at heart--I will be definitely pushing the envelope of my comfort zone--however, I want to do this as I need to be pushed beyond my borders in order to be able to understand, and experience life more fully--more later.

The Journey Of The Magi

'A cold coming we had of it,
Just the worst time of the year
For a journey, and such a long journey:
The ways deep and the weather sharp,
The very dead of winter.'
And the camels galled, sorefooted, refractory,
Lying down in the melting snow.
There were times we regretted
The summer palaces on slopes, the terraces,
And the silken girls bringing sherbet.
Then the camel men cursing and grumbling
and running away, and wanting their liquor and women,
And the night-fires going out, and the lack of shelters,
And the cities hostile and the towns unfriendly
And the villages dirty and charging high prices:
A hard time we had of it.
At the end we preferred to travel all night,
Sleeping in snatches,
With the voices singing in our ears, saying
That this was all folly.

Then at dawn we came down to a temperate valley,
Wet, below the snow line, smelling of vegetation;
With a running stream and a water-mill beating the darkness,
And three trees on the low sky,
And an old white horse galloped away in the meadow.
Then we came to a tavern with vine-leaves over the lintel,
Six hands at an open door dicing for pieces of silver,
And feet kiking the empty wine-skins.
But there was no information, and so we continued
And arriving at evening, not a moment too soon
Finding the place; it was (you might say) satisfactory.

All this was a long time ago, I remember,
And I would do it again, but set down
This set down
This: were we led all that way for
Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly
We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death,
But had thought they were different; this Birth was
Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.
We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
I should be glad of another death.

http://www.theway-themovie.com/

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